-Comments From Chemistry Faculty

Dr. Paris Svoronos, CHEMISTRY Chair, Professor

The Fourth Honors Annual Conference- April 18, 2008

Once more the Annual Honors College Conference proved to be a grand day for both the students and their mentors. On Friday April 18, 2008 almost 150 abstracts were presented by about 200 students from ten academic departments in the Medical Arts well area. These included mostly power point presentations as well as readings, debates and discussions as well as the electronic masterpiece demonstrations by the ECET department. For the first time we had whole classrooms dedicated to Business, Math, English, Theater and Biology honors students. For the first time we had a music performance and four different honors foreign languages (Italian, Spanish, German and Chinese) represented. And for the first time we had power points from chemistry students’ honors work in five different courses. Once more History and Social Sciences contributed with Honors contracts. Four chairs mentored students and half of the academic chairs were in attendance. The whole event lasted almost three hours with the administration led by President Marti, VPs King, Call, Hartigan and Zins and Deans Steele, Corradetti and Larios sitting in several presentations. What was truly priceless was the confidence, self assurance and incredible poise all presenters displayed. The elation was evident in the faces of all kids who had dedicated hours of hard work for that “D Day”. Ditto to their mentors who decided to undertake the task of setting the bar high and coaching their students to go over it. Full timers and a half dozen of adjuncts and CLTs worked diligently and were proud to see the fruits of their effort materialize. The program book was beautifully prepared by Carol Imandt and masterfully printed by Fred Feinstein. An event such as the Fourth Annual Honors Conference provides one more proof of how our institution has changed its academic direction in the last eight years. The Honors program has become the aggregate of learning communities, cornerstone and capstone courses and a clear indication of the inevitable success of the Academies’ idea. It also represents an assessment of the pedagogical successes of our young and enthusiastic instructors coupled with the seasoned experience of the old timers. Finally a great proof of collegiality, support and belief in the “team spirit” was evidenced by the decision of all kids to stay in their room even though they were done with the presentations simply because they felt it was important that they stay with their fellow classmates during the time of challenge. Yes, there are even better days ahead of us here at Queensborough. All of you are invited to the Fifth Annual Honors Conference on May 1.

Dr. Sasan Karimi, Chemistry Associate Professor

I have been conducting research with students since I arrived at Queensborough 7 years ago. Most of the projects are laboratory based and are conducted at Queens College due to insufficient research space and facilities at Queensborough. The projects involve the synthesis of several tricyclic sesquiterpenoid natural products (e.g. sativene, longifolene, and ylangene) and the preparation and reaction of chiral oxycarbanions. My experience with students who do research has been very fruitful. The results of some of the works have already been published in peer reviewed journals including the names of students and faculty who were involved in the projects.

Most of the students that I engaged in doing research are those who have completed their freshman chemistry and are taking organic chemistry I. They are introduced to the concepts of organic chemistry in lecture, and the various lab techniques in the laboratory portion of the course. When involved in research, students persist on getting results and invest a lot of time in achieving them. After graduating from Queensborough, many will transfer to Queens College or other CUNY or SUNY campuses or institutions in the tri-state area. It is a pleasure mentoring these students.

Dr. Moni Chauhan, Chemistry Associate Professor

A Successful Story of Honors General Chemistry II Class

The General Chemistry II honors class gives me the opportunity to teach some of the best students in the college. These students are dedicated, hard working, at times very passionate and willing to learn. Among these students I choose two students every year to conduct original research under my guidance in the field of “Nanoparticle Synthesis and Characterization”. Since last year I have an honors student Eunchul Kim conducting research who has proven himself to be among the best undergraduate researchers I have ever had. He spends several hours in the lab every week, and is well versed with several instrumentation techniques like electron Scanning Microscope, Infra Red Spectrometer and Proton NMR. He has already presented the results of his research at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Philadelphia in August 2008. This year also he will be presenting his findings at National, regional and International meetings. The concept of honors classes is great as it gives us the opportunity to go beyond the text books and teach the students the “scientific research” and “scientific method”. Students tend to get more interested in sciences and continue in STEM fields.

Dr. David Sarno, Chemistry Assistant Professor

What Makes it an “Honors” Class?

In my second year as a faculty member in the QCC Chemistry Department, I've been given the opportunity to teach the Honors Lab section for General Chemistry I (CH-151). As expected, the students are all dedicated and enthusiastic, and working with them every week is much fun. The experiments are the same for all sections of this course, so we have devised two ways to set it apart and make it worth the “Honors” title. The Chemistry Department hosts a monthly seminar in which invited speakers from other colleges and universities present their research. Our students attend these seminars, which have covered a variety of topics such as environmental remediation, advances in nanochemistry, and the NYC water supply. They must then prepare summaries of the presentations that include additional information on the topic, usually obtained from the speaker’s website. The goal of these assignments is not only for the students to improve their writing and note-taking skills, but also to expose them to cutting-edge research that is often happening right in their own neighborhood. There is no doubt that these experiences have prompted many of our own students to pursue research projects with faculty mentors from QCC.

The second assignment is a “Science and Society” project. Scientific discoveries and their implications have become central to several public debates, especially in the biochemical sciences (e.g. stem cell research and genetic engineering). Scientific literacy is absolutely essential if one is to make informed decisions regarding complex issues. Our Honors students are identifying a topic of interest and researching it in the popular literature (newspapers, magazines, internet, etc.). By understanding the core of the controversy from technical and non-technical viewpoints, they can then form an educated opinion on the subject. This project is a new edition to Honors CH-151 and we are very excited to see the results of the student’s investigations.

Dr. Soraya Svoronos, Chemistry Adjunct Associate Professor

Teaching Honors Classes in the Chemistry Department: Ten Years Later

I have been associated with Honors classes in the Chemistry Department for the last ten years. It was the Spring semester of 2000 when the first experimental course was launched and has turned out to be anything but experimental. There is nothing more exciting than seeing our Queensborough students’ progress through this program. It is certainly a unique experience to witness their power point projects as they present them at the end of the course or during the Annual QCC Honors Conference. When these students start they have absolutely no background in chemistry. A dozen weeks later they are ready to stand up for 15 minutes and talk about a specific topic they have picked out of the course syllabus. I have recently been involved in research with three students in the department. Although an adjunct I have been fortunate in mentoring three students in the quantitative determination of polyphenolic compounds, such as gallic acid, in various brands of tea. These compounds are excellent antioxidants and contribute to the healthy properties of several foods. The results of this project will be presented by the students themselves at the 57th Undergraduate Research Symposium of the American Chemical Society- NY section on May 2 at Pace University and, most likely as a poster, at the National American Chemical Society Meeting in Washington DC in August.. I have been teaching as an adjunct in at least four different senior colleges and have never seen the interest and close mentorship that is prevalent in the Chemistry Department by basically all full time faculty. The extensive research opportunity for our students in the Honors Program is a unique occurrence nationally that displays the quality and teaching ability of the department’s faculty.

Dr. Jun Shin, Chemistry Assistant Professor

“Why They Are in the Honors Class?”

Although I have had chances to work with honors students in research in the past, this is my first semester to encounter them in the class (both in CH-152 lab and CH-121 lab). My first impression is that these students know, communicate and care about each other very well, often (such as in CH-152) because this is not the first class they have been together. At the same time the CH-121 students are willing to listen, pay attention and trust the judgment of the instructor. They do not compete for a better grade but instead help each other to improve their knowledge and ability in chemistry and their future. As a result better grades become a consequence of this effort. The honors students are not only proven to have academic ability but are also equipped with interest in the sciences which will lead them to another level.

“Thinking” is very important in science because all the scientific research results begin with an “idea” which involves “thinking”. In the laboratory courses, many students just follow the procedure described in the lab manual but this is not research. To inspire the students I use the concept of cooking.

If you are cooking by following a recipe then you can be a good assistant cook but not a good cook. To be a good cook, you have to think continuously why pre-treating a type of food, why adding an ingredient at a given time, why heating for a specified period are significant. Good scientists are the same. They always think why, why, and why. I believe that the honors students are the ones who think “why” in the laboratory, and that is what makes them different from the “regular” class students. This is exactly why they are in the honor class.

Dr. Mihaela D. Bojin, Chemistry Assistant Professor

Mentoring Students at a Community College: An Unusual Experience

I have joined Queensborough Community College as tenure-track faculty in the Fall of 2007 and have followed the trend in the Chemistry Department to expose the better students in research and conference presentation. So far, I have mentored four undergraduate students, and although the journey started as a difficult one, since they are all freshmen, their progress is remarkable. We work on two projects: 1) quantum mechanical calculations of inter- and intramolecular interactions in amino acids, specifically hydrogen bonds, associations essential in shaping proteins and enzymes, and 2) protonation states of dihydrofolate reductase, changes in hydrogen bonding patterns, and its inhibition mechanism by methotrexate. These projects require knowledge of prior literature, computational skills, and a critical chemical understanding, which my students have quickly acquired. Stirring enthusiasm, independence, and motivation is vital in every research group, and I strive to inspire these values to my group. I believe that presentations at conferences and writing scientific papers are essential in setting students on a firm scientific trajectory. Two of my students, Alexdandru Pestesi and Elizabeth Cipriana have already presented their work at the 236th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Philadelphia, the 40th Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting (MARM) 2008, as well as in Undergraduate Research conferences both as power point and poster form. Finally, my utmost research goals are to empower my students, get them excited by and interested in the complex questions associated with chemistry, as during this process we all discover original ways to think new and old problems.

Dr. Tirandai Hemraj-Benny Assistant Professor, Chemistry

As a first-year tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Chemistry Department at Queensborough Community College. I have always found not only the staff and faculty members of this department, but most importantly, the students of this college to be truly remarkable individuals. I have had the fortunate opportunity to mentor three of Queensborough Community College’s research students for the past two semesters. Toor Noori, Chi Kwan Wong and Christina Badal have been studying and investigating the purification and functionalization of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for potential electronic and sensor applications. These students have always shown great interest in their research and have always been responsible individuals in the laboratory. Overall, they have demonstrated potential in becoming great young scientists. I truly have found the experience of working together with these three students extremely rewarding and motivating. They are all ready to present their findings at the 5th Annual Queensborough Honors Conference and the 57th Undergraduate Research Symposium of the American Chemical Society-NY section at Pace University in May.

COMMENTS BY HONORS STUDENTS